Week 1 Music Journal

     For my week 1 familiar music I chose "Hearts Out" (3:09) and "Stay Humble" (3:06)  by Emblem3. Emblem3 was a band from California, two brothers and their friend, but they basically broke up last summer. Sometimes the two brothers still write together but their friend decided to go solo. The YouTube video for "Stay Humble" is a pretty bad recording because it was recorded live but the song is still there. The song is one of their really old songs and they first wrote it when their band was first starting out. I don't usually like rap and I don't know if some sections in this song are considered as rap, but I do like this rap if it is that. I do like all the instruments they do use in the song it sounds like there may be a saxophone in the song somewhere and they use the instrument to their advantage. The saxophone sometimes has the melody but mostly plays the accompaniment part in the background. There are also a lot of percussion instruments used throughout the song as well. Such as maybe the tambourine and some type of other cymbal like instrument. The two brothers sometimes harmonize which is nice, they sound good together. The two brother's friend is the guy who raps. He is really good at rapping and writing the lyrics to their songs. Emblem3 liked to promote nice messages such as to stay humble and the lyrics throughout their songs. 

"Stay Humble" -    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEmHSTmq2bA

"Hearts Out" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viFjMTKsedo

    

     For my week 1 unfamiliar music I chose two from the list provided. I chose "Suite No.1 op.46 from Peer Gynt-Anitra's Dance - Grieg" (3:31) and "Hungarian Dances No.6, D sharp major Vivace - Brahms." (3:28) I wanted to listen to the Hungarian Dance one because I did not know what a Hungarian Dance sounded like. This particular Hungarian Dance starts off slow moving at the beginning which is fine but also is pretty. They use the slow section to crescendo up to the faster moving sections. The song goes between the slow and fast sections towards the beginning. They play around with the tempos and dynamics. At one point, the strings take over the tempo and kind of go at a faster pace then what they were previously going at. Then, the song has a more grand feeling towards 1:42 in the YouTube video. The composer uses a lot of the wind instruments and strings to amplify the intensity of this little section here. Then the higher winds and strings have a fun little lighthearted melody. The brass instruments have a loud ending to that section. The winds and strings take over with a slower melody that is also kind of lighthearted then it picks up speed with the same melody idea along. The strings and I think I heard a bassoon at one point have almost like after beats in the next part as well. I think it sounds as though some strings are playing along with the wind instruments and they do play together nicely.

"Suite No.1 op.46 from Peer Gynt-Anitra's Dance - Grieg" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcEnSITNaGM

"Hungarian Dance No.6 D sharp major Vivace - Brahms" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe4x2XUeHhk